Book Reviews | Broad Conversation

January 1, 2013 • 2:45 pm 0

What we are looking forward to in 2013

“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

As we face up to a fresh start, a new year, it is time for me to renew my bookselling vows. Primary among these is to find the ‘books of worth’ to put in front of our customers. Some of these books will garner much attention, some less so; some will sit atop the bestseller lists, some will only sell a few; some will have the full resources of a major publishing house put behind them, some will be published by a one man band.

Here then is the first tranche of books that I am looking forward to becoming acquainted with for the first time this year:

A bittersweet recommendation this as it is the last complete work from that most-loved friend of booksellers Maurice Sendak. A veneration of his brother, Jack, this is guaranteed to have added poignancy with the death of the author last year. Due for publication on 31st January.

From one of our greatest living historians comes the story of the first Anglo Afghan war. No doubt there will be parallels to be drawn between this disastrous episode and the current situation. As ever with Dalrymple you will get a rollicking history dripping in authentic detail

James Wood is undoubtedly one of the pre-eminent literary critics of our generation. Expect this collection of 23 essays to fizz off the page – he writes about a variety of influential writers from George Orwell to Michel Houellebecq, Cormac McCarthy to Thomas Hardy. Due for publication on 7th February.

The author was a pioneer of web 2.0 but is now the most credible dissenting voice of the less appealing society that new technologies are likely to mould. Taking off from where his previous book, You Are Not A Gadget, left off this book is a political, technological manifesto for a better future. Due for publication on 7th March

If you like your writing to be imaginative, creative and thrilling then Anne Carson is for you. Her new book is a sequel to the verse-novel ‘An Autobiography of Red’ that was published in 1998. Quite a wait (although not as long a wait as a later entry in this list!) but I have no doubt that it will be worth it as the story of Geyron – “who was red and had wings and fell in love with Herakles” – carries on later in his life.

This looks to be a beautiful book albeit with a salutary tale – this is taken from the author’s Bumblebee Conservation Trust ’In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed. Two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically’

One for the bibliomaniacs to look forward to here – the story of a ring of thieves in 1920s America who stole thousands of rare books to order for secondhand book dealers

From the brilliant Dalkey Archive Press comes an unexpected treat; a collection of shorts by Flann O’Brien, many included in book form for the first time as well as his last, unfinished, novel ‘Slattery’s Sago Saga’ I shall have a large glass of something full-bodied and round to hand in readiness for this

Danny Torrance is back – 36 years after he survived The Shining. It is safe to say that this is the most anticipated novel of 2013. The quality of some of the writing of Stephen King is now, rightly, acknowledged as having literary merit above and beyond his extraordinary popularity. Due for publication on 24th September.

This is just a glimpse at some of the gems coming your way this year and, of course, we would love to hear what books are making you quiver in anticipation. Happy New Year!

Already the need to add to this list has arisen – and how! The concluding part of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s legendary 1930s walk as an eighteen year old from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople is being published in September. ‘A Time of Gifts’ and ‘Between the Woods and the Water’ are, rightly, revered as Travel Writing at its absolute best and although ‘The Broken Road’ is unfinished it is gleaned from an early draft he wrote and his diaries.

And then this

Penguin Press to publish new Thomas Pynchon novel this fall called BLEEDING EDGE.
—
Ron Charles (@RonCharles) January 04, 2013

There is no information other than this, but this information is enough to set many hearts afluttering…

Filed under: Beauty of Books, Book Reviews

December 7, 2012 • 10:30 am 6

Book of the Year for one of our booksellers

Ray has impeccable taste in contemporary fiction (he was the first of our booksellers to wax lyrical about New Finnish Grammar) and an unshakeable belief that the most worthwhile books are subversive. Here he shares with you the book that has rocked his world most this year:

This year there has been a veritable banquet of books that make reading more than worth it. If you don’t know what they are you haven’t been paying attention, but there is one particular book that has made it to these shores from the US I feel so evangelical about I want to run around screaming “YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK OR YOUR LIFE WILL BE INCOMPLETE”, in Billy Graham style.

A monumental debut, shining with a searing razor-edged intelligence, ‘ A Naked Singularity ‘ by Sergio de la Pava fizzes like a roman candle.

Casi, the main character of this book, is a New York public defender of Columbian descent, who describes his day-to-day existence and the people he is involved with, including clients, colleagues, family and flatmates. With an astonishing immediacy, de la Palma throws you into the murky waters of the US legal system at street level. It’s almost a soap opera for the thinker… but there’s a twist.

This being a big book, in every sense of the word, the author takes you into the grit of life in a way that is enthralling, engaging and compelling. He sparks up philosophical, scientific, social, cultural and political discourse until halfway through an almost 700 page book when it changes gear and becomes something more. This impacts on the adrenaline, heightening the novel to a level that carries you through to the end like a surfer riding the perfect wave.

Quite simply, it’s one of those books you want everybody to read and to tell everybody else to read. Or maybe…. just keep it to yourself?

This is not just the best book of 2012, it is an important book, a book which tackles brilliantly not just the moral dilemmas and ideas thrown up, but how we read what we read. I cannot find superlatives big enough to celebrate this novel. I just wanted to punch the air in victory at this guy’s achievment when I finished it.

An endnote… This powerful opus had to be self-published for almost 4 years as no publisher would pick it up. I suspect they cowered at their inability to define the genre it belongs to. More fool them, but all power to the University of Chicago Press for their insight. It would have been an act of almost criminal injustice to let this novel sink into obscurity. It’s just way too good for that, trust me.

Ray

Filed under: Book Reviews, The Bookshop, A Naked Singularity, Books of the Year, Sergio de la Palma

November 1, 2012 • 12:25 pm 0

Lives of the the Improbable Saints

I was running a bit late for work this morning and just as I was about to leave the house I heard a snippet on the Today programme about a book called ‘Lives of the Improbable Saints’. The author, Richard Coles, came across fantastically well as he talked about some of the lesser known Saints. If you missed it you can listen again here

The book is utterly fun and fascinating – for example St Adjutor, who is the patron saint of people who fall in ponds, was ‘very good at calming whirlpools mostly by throwing his chains into them and making the sign of the cross’

Or St Fiacre who has become the patron saint of piles (along with gardeners, cabbies, fistulae, hosiers, florists and those suffering from venereal disease)

My interest piqued I needed to find out who is the patron saint of booksellers. I am happy to report that we have a good one – St John of God How good would that look on a business card!?

So thanks to my tardiness this All Hallows morning and the good folk of Radio 4 we may well have unearthed a surprise Christmas bestseller for the shop.

Filed under: Bestsellers, Book Reviews, Patron Saints, Richard Coles

October 19, 2012 • 5:58 pm 1

Biography of Nancy Astor– the birth of an idea

Adrian Fort is an acclaimed historian and biographer. His new book Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor tells the remarkable tale of this most fascinating women. Being the first woman elected to Parliament ensured her place in History but she was equally well known for her sharp-tongued quips ‘I married beneath me. All women do.’, her involvement in German appeasement, her friendships with the likes of George Bernard Shaw, her Christian Science beliefs and her stewardship of the magnificent Thames-side stately home Cliveden

Adrian kindly recounts what gave him the idea to write Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor

The idea of writing the story of Lady Astor came to me originally while I was researching for my book on Lord Wavell, the famous WW2 general and Viceroy of India. Studying the approach of WW2 I became intrigued by the attitudes of the many in the upper and influential classes who believed that Britain should make friends with Germany. This view was prominent among Conservative MPS – no touchy-feely soft centres in those days – and echoed in the City. Anything, they felt, was better than another war, which would threaten our wealth and estates, and England as we know it.

I began to read of strange references to ‘The Cliveden Set’, which led me to accounts of the influence of the country’s leading political hostesses, the most prominent being Lady Astor. At countless luxurious parties at Cliveden, her magnificent mansion above the Thames, she entertained leading members of the Baldwin and Chamberlain governments, and the movers and shakers at the German embassy, people like von Ribbentrop, Reinhard Spitzy and Prince Bismarck who, though Nazis, had the beguiling and civilised veneer that went down well with the upper classes – or at least with those who were supposedly pro-German. The fact that much of the talk about the Astors and Cliveden was exaggeration and lies did not stop the mud, especially that slung by ‘The Week’, a Communist rag run by a Communist ragamuffin, the very able Claud Cockburn.

My interest in Nancy Astor grew rapidly once I had looked into her history, heard her on radio, seen her on TV. Her lifetime spanned a period of phenomenal change: she was Virginian, born in the lingering ruins left by the American Civil War, yet when she died, in an unrecognisably different world, the Rolling Stones were playing at gigs in West London, and the Beatles’ ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ was No. 4 in the Hit Parade.

Between those two poles lay the grace and opulence of Britain’s Edwardian Age, the carnage of WW1, the great depression, the years of appeasement, ‘The Cliveden Set’, and the final eclipse of the old world in the ashes of WW2.

In all these passing scenes Nancy played a fascinating and prominent role; partly because she was so rich, and partly because through her dynamic talents and character she became the first woman MP, and then the champion of numerous controversial if moral crusades. Yet the unpopularity for a time heaped upon her was redeemed by her legendary wit and humour, and also particularly by her inspiring courage as Mayoress of Plymouth, her Parliamentary seat, during the devastating German Blitz of 1941, which consumed the old city in a Biblical storm of fire and brimstone.

The more I read of this controversial dynamo, surrounded by glamour and wealth, laughter and luxury, yet nobody’s fool and a pure steel champion of women’s causes, the more I realised what a mark she had made on Britain’s history in perhaps its most enthralling and dramatic period.

Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor has been Radio 4 Book of the Week which can be listened to here

Filed under: Book Reviews, Guest Blogs, Adrian Fort, Cliveden, Lady Astor

July 4, 2012 • 1:08 pm 3

Books of the year – past, present and future

The end of June is the end of our financial year and I always take time to look back on the books that have struck a chord with our customers and our booksellers and look forward to the books that will be important to us in the run up to Christmas. Our list of top selling titles is always slightly different than you would find on the Sunday Times bestseller list. I love this, this matters to me – it is evidence of the personality of the shop and the varied taste of our customers. We work hard to put books in front of our customers that are not promoted so heavily, or get huge review coverage and that happy intersection where the recommendation of the shop meets the interest of our customers is the most rewarding part of our job. Here I will highlight three titles from the past year, three current titles and three titles soon to be published that I think are worthy of greater awareness.

The Past Year

Mindfulness by Professor Mark Williams was our second bestselling non-fiction title (after Hare with Amber Eyes). It is a book, based on substantial academic research, about how to beat depression by greater awareness of how your mind works and the use of meditation to gain control of your thoughts. We had a wonderful evening in the shop with Mark back in September and know that this book has helped so many people.

Whilst it may not hit the literary highs of some of our other favourite novels A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse is an utter delight for anyone who has worked in, or loves bookshops. The premise is simple, a wealthy heiress bankrolls the opening of a small bookshop in Paris with the stock of books chosen by an anonomous comittee based solely on literary merit. This causes outrage for some opponents of the elite concept and a tale of conforntation, jealousy and murder ensues.

What Are Universities For? by Stefan Collini is a short but timely consideration of the value that Universities give to civilised society above and beyond the purely commercial. He argues that Humanities in particular need to be viewed through a more evolved prism that has a more enlightened understanding of the value of extending human understanding and the benefits that this brings to all people.

Current recommendations

Michael Frayn is always excellent value – funny, erudite and often philosophical. Skios is classic Frayn, a bright, breezy farce with a large cast of brilliantly realised characters. If we ever get a summer I can highly recommend a lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying the sun in your garden with a bottle of something rather nice and a copy of Skios in your hand. Sounds pretty perfect to me

If you are looking for something weighty to get your teeth into try The Spark of Life by Oxford academic Frances Ashcroft. Like most people I was sort of aware that our consciousness is nothing but electrical signals – what has bowled me over about this book is just how all pervading this ‘animal electricity’ is in all facets of life. This is science writing at the very top of the tree – informing, astonishing, passionate and’ like all of the best non-fiction, it leaves you feeling more clever than before you picked it up.

Michael Sandel is a Harvard professor of Political Philosophy and an academic superstar. In What Money Can’t Buy he sets out very clearly the values that we, as a society, should be protecting – dignity, freedom and social solidarity – as the increasingly influential ‘market’ threatens to corrode them. It may not convert many free-marketeers but if you have a growing sense of unease about the more destructive elements of capitalism you will find strong arguments and, therefore, hope for a more balanced future

Coming Soon

I am currently reading a proof copy of Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life by Artur Domoslawski. My fears that it might be hagiographic and skirt over some of the controversies that surround my favourite writer’s life were completely unfounded. It is a fascinating insight to an extraordinary man and an absolute must-read for anyone who has ever been moved by the beautiful writing of this reporter extraordinair. We have an event with the author to coincide with publication

In September comes a treat for all foodies – a new Ottolenghi. It is going to be gorgeous – gorgeous design, gorgeous production, gorgeous recipes and of course gorgeous food. Jerusalem is the hometown of Yotam and Sami so expect a book dripping in authentic flavours. Buy a copy for yourself and then buy copies for anyone who is important in your life. An early contender for our bestselling book at Christmas

I have it on good authority, nay, on very good authority that The Story of My Assassins by Tarun Tejpal is an extraordinary novel that you will not want to miss. Dennis Johnson, the founder of Melville House who publish this, has told me “This one is a sweeping saga of modern day India, kind of a literary, erotic thriller about the divide between rich and poor (not necessarily unique to India, to my mind). It’s a biggie by a writer I’ve fallen for, to the extent of signing on for a second book. He’s got a lot to say about the abuses of political power that I’m keen to promote, while also telling engrossing stories that seem hypnotically exotic — at first.” I am not going to argue with that!

So there you go – not even a single mention of Fifty Shades. I really hope that you like the selections, do let us know if there are particular books that you have loved, are loving or waiting for in a state of extreme excitement. And remember only this long until Christmas

Filed under: Bestsellers, Book Reviews, Bookshop news and events

June 19, 2012 • 9:35 am 0

The original Midsummer murders?

It looks like the most idyllic rural scene of utter calm, doesn’t it? Well yes, but this was also the location for a nineteenth century murder most foul that is the subject of a new book by Peter Moore called ‘Damn His Blood’

“The greatest of all miracles
I’m going to unfold,
Of two atrocious murders
As true as ever was told,

A horrid band of miscreants
A cruel plot did lay
‘Gainst Parker, their Church Minister,
To take his life away”

Oddingley in Worcestershire was a small village of not more than a hundred people when the rector was brutally murdered. It was a case that gripped High Society and, extraordinarily, was not solved until twenty four years later. As can be seen by this newspaper article (kindly supplied by the publisher Chatto and Windus) it was major news in 1830

Peter Moore is a writer who also teaches on the MA in Non-Fiction at City University. ‘Damn His Blood’ is his first book, it is currently Radio 4′s Book of the Week and will be available in the shop from Thursday 21st June.

This promises to be one of those tales of historical misdeeds that grips and informs. It is certainly a book that I am looking forward to getting my grubby paws on…

Filed under: Book Reviews, Damn His Blood, Oddingley murders, Peter Moore

April 25, 2012 • 4:38 pm 11

Customers, Book Lovers, Authors – we want to hear about the books you love!

It is an aim of this blog to give a voice to everyone who has a stake in books and the written word, be you a bookseller, customer, author or just a lover of books

To this end I would like to create a couple of new pages on the blog similar to our increasingly popular Read it, Loved it page where our booksellers share their favourite books. In order to do this I need your help;

For customers / general book lovers we will create a page called ‘Bought it, Loved it’ – all you have to do is email or comment me with the books that you have loved and a two sentence blurb as to why. Your books can be old or new, serious or fun, easily available or long out of print

For authors we will create a page called ‘Loved it, Wish I’d Written it’ – suspect you know the drill by now! Two sentences on the book(s) that have inspired you…or made you jealous

If there is enough call for it I would also do a page for Librarians called Lent it, Loved it

Hope you like the idea enough to get cracking on sending me your recommendations! Either leave a reply below or email euan.hirst(at)blackwell.co.uk

Euan

Filed under: Book Reviews

June 30, 2011 • 5:10 am 1

The Company of Fellows by Dan Holloway

One of the perks of working in a bookshop like Blackwell’s in Oxford is that you get to meet plenty of authors, both known and unknown to fame. They are real people too, which means that they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, personalities and talents. Sometimes they have written a book that you admire deeply but turn out in person to be underwhelming (or worse…). Sometimes they are a delight on a personal level but have written something that is mediocre (or worse…)

This blog has detailed the story behind The Company of Fellows by Dan Holloway winning our online poll of Your Favourite Oxford Novel. It is a great story – one that has opened our eyes to what a great bookshop should be doing in this age of online connectivity with authors, customers and fans. Dan himself has been a delight to work with – he has promoted the poll and the result tirelessly. He has ferried copies of the book to the shop on a regular basis (yes! we are selling plenty of copies!). He has been enthusiastic, supportive and a joy to get to know. We are doing two events with him over the coming months. I will be seeing him again!

So it was with some trepidation that I started reading The Company of Fellows. What if it was unexceptional? What if I just didn’t like it – especially considering that Crime Fiction and Thrillers are not my usual staple?

I did consider these things before packing the book and made a promise to myself that I would be honest – after all the trust that customers have in our staff recommendations is hugely important to me and something that we should not meddle with in any circumstance.

So it is with great relief, delight and enthusiasm that I commend The Company of Fellows to you.

It is very much driven by the plot – the apparent suicide of a brilliant academic and his star pupil’s quest to find the truth about the death. Monstrous skeletons are found in plentiful cupboards as the tale unfolds. As with any decent thriller the plot rattles along at a great pace with enough twists to keep the most restless armchair detective guessing.

The main protagonist, Tommy West, is drawn with enough vulnerability and ambiguity to be convincing and likeable. Strong female characters are always welcome and here we have a bevy from DS Lu, Haydn Shaw and, in their own very different ways, Becky and Emily. Most of the main male characters are, to a greater or lesser extent, pretty despicable. Some delightfully so..and the competitive, insular, incestuous world of academia, if obviously exaggerated, has a ring of authenticity. One of the strengths of the novel.

At times the story takes you to very uncomfortable places which, to some, may teeter on the gratuitous but this is psychological horror where the thought in the mind of the reader is much more disturbing than the deed. However, it is unsettling and will be beyond the pale for some.

The writing style is unpretentious and reminded me to a degree of early Ian Banks. Occasionaly the research shown off in the book felt a little superfluous, but overall it is solidly, rather than spectacularly, written and none the worse for that.

Oxford, not just the inner sanctums of the Colleges, is a fine backdrop and there are plenty of local observations that will bring a wry smile to those who know the city well. So, add another cracking book the illustrious tales of this most murderous city. Do yourself a favour and pop into the shop to pick up a copy and enter the the dark, disturbing and at times depraved world of The Company of Fellows

Filed under: Book Reviews, Holiday Reading, Dan Holloway, Staff Recommends, The Company of Fellows, Your Favourite Oxford Novel

June 28, 2011 • 2:07 pm 1

Holiday Reading so far…

I have managed to find some quality reading time amid the competing charms of a first visit to Sydney and catching up with family. Me being me means that from my original reading pile I added Diego Marani’s ‘New Finnish Grammar’ and a proof copy of Nigel Warburton’s ‘A Little History of Philosophy’ that is published by Yale in September. Whilst I have read the two new additions to the list it means that I have so far only completed ‘The Company of Fellows’ and ‘Ill Fares the Land’. Being part-way through ‘Boxer Beetle’ and ‘This is not the End of the Book’ with less than a week to go until I am on the plane home I fully expect to polish these off and also have a decent crack at ‘The Divided Self’ I suspect that ‘Shantaram’ will have to wait until a later date – sorry Becky, I can hear your squeals of disappointment from the other side of the world.

First up my bookseller thoughts on ‘New Finnish Grammar’ by Diego Marani

I tend to be more a reader of non-fiction but I have had the great fortune of reading two contemporary literay novels this year that have reminded me that the thoughts explored and language used in certain books can be as exhilarating as any plot line or character, and more rewarding to the reader. The first book that reminded me of this was ‘The Canal’ by Lee Rourke (I have been trying to write a proper review of this for months but cannot find the right words to convey just how much this book moved me and how it thrillingly reignited my love of reading quality literary fiction) For another novel to come along within a couple of months and capture my imagination as comprehensively is a rare treat indeed, but ‘New Finnish Grammar’ is extraordinary on many levels.

It was originally published in Italy in 2000 and has, I believe, been translated into various languages before this Dedalus Books edition came in May. The plot is pretty straightforward – set during the Second World War a man is found on the quayside in Trieste, he has been beaten up to such an extent that he has completely lost his memory. The only clue to his identity is the name Sampo Karjalainen on a tag sewn in to his sailor’s jacket. A doctor, originally from Finland, takes him under his wing and facillitates the recovery of the man and helps him return to Finland where slowly and painfully he learns to read, write and speak again. The relationship between identity and language underpins the book and the love and respect that the author (and, indeed, Judith Landry the translator) has for words and language is apparent on every single page. I lost count of the number of times that I chuckled quietly or gasped involuntarily at a simple yet beautiful word play. “But only those who are fully acquainted with the power of the word should dare to have recourse to its magic” Marani weaves into this story the troubled history of Russo-Finnish relations, ancient myths and sagas and a doomed love story that is heart-wrenching but never cynical.

A stunning book that deserves the wide audience that it appears to be getting after a gushing review from Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian I know that it is a book that I will be thrusting into peoples hands for years to come urging them to buy it, read it and spread the word. It is the least that I can do for the pleasure that it has given me.

Time to go and read now, I hope to do some more mini-reviews tomorrow…

Filed under: Book Reviews, Holiday Reading, Diego Marani, New Finnish Grammar, Summer Reading

June 1, 2011 • 4:30 pm 1

Blackwell’s Staff Recommends

If there is a single thing to get the juices of our booksellers flowing it is to ask them about the books that they love. We love to wax lyrical about those books that have inspired, delighted or enlightened us. It is the best thing about being a bookseller, bar none. Our simple rule is that you have to have read the book that you are recommending and, err, that’s it. No deal with publishers, no subject excluded, no collusion as to the title chosen. It is absolutely the choice of our individual booksellers.

We want our staff to write more recommendations, although occasionally the it may court some controversy. Here’s an example:

“Though rather long-winded and with an implausible plot, some of the characters are beautifully drawn and the language is truly exquisite. Packed full of violence, illusions, allusions and plenty of begatting!” The Bible

Part of me says that putting this review onto the shop floor would be fine – we would hate to be perceived as a bookshop without a personality. And yet. And yet there is a part of me that knows we will cause upset to some people – again, we do not want to be perceived as a thoughtless bookshop. Maybe I think too much…

Pop into the shop and you will see more handwritten, heartfelt stories about those books that our booksellers love. We have some of them listed here online

Filed under: Book Reviews, Bookshop news and events, Staff Recommends

Broad Conversation

What we are looking forward to in 2013

Book of the Year for one of our booksellers

Lives of the the Improbable Saints

Biography of Nancy Astor– the birth of an idea

Books of the year – past, present and future

The original Midsummer murders?

Customers, Book Lovers, Authors – we want to hear about the books you love!

The Company of Fellows by Dan Holloway

Holiday Reading so far…

Blackwell’s Staff Recommends

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